Conserving and utilising plant germplasm and genetic resources

Biodiversity, which is variation among species, can only occur by means of variation within species. Hybrids of current and new species may be an end product of incremental change in New Zealand's agricultural practice. Also, the expanded understanding of the needs of a future ready agriculture by scientists, the industry and farmers has directed research toward increased acknowledgement of the benefits of new forage species. Resilience and adaptability to different soil types and environments is a very important factor in selection of species and their cultivars in summer dry and dryland agriculture. The information used in prebreeding research for a future ready agriculture at Margot Forde Germplasm Centre are mainly categorised to three groups: Origin data, Phenotypic data and Genotypic data.